For The Empire
by Bubbajones68
Summary: A Story of a Galactic conflict from the Empire's point of view.
1. Chapter 1

For The Empire

This is a note from the author. This story is a work in progress, and as you may see, lacking a specific order. It is written currently in "scenes" as I experiment with this site and getting my content on it. I have two more segments to add to this story soon, and it will be a long fanfiction. The story takes place on the planet Taris, the city planet prominent in the first Knights of The Old Republic, but during the days of the Empire. Feel free to enjoy these segments, and check back sometimes, I will upload more when I can. Also feel free to leave comments and suggestions, but keep in mind, this story is unfinished (though the events are in chronological order, there will be more segments in between them, eventually forming chapters and whatnot.) So, enjoy.

"A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away….

The thunderous rhythm of armored boots reverberated through the very crust of the planet's surface. Small pebbles and stones skipped and danced across the arid ground as rank upon rank of Imperial Stormtroopers marched to usher yet another world into the ever-widening embrace of the Empire. For Captain Darenal Sef, moments like these were those of private satisfaction. This, in his eyes, was what the Empire was meant to be. A force for order, the march of progress- not the playground of two-faced politicians and a glutinous aristocracy. No, let them fester and rot back on Corasaunt, squabbling over whatever scraps of favor the Emperor condescended to grant them. No, his place was here, to feel the very planet beneath his boots tremble in anticipation- or perhaps more appropriately, fear.


	2. Chapter 2

The Major's voice suddenly stopped, cut off mid-protest. Vader's tall black figure remained motionless, gazing out of the window at the sprawling city, as a cold, almost tangible pressure began to fill the room. Major Akins started to feel around his throat with his fingers, his fumbling turning to frenzied scrabbling as his eyes began to bulge with panic.

"I grow tired of excuses." Said Vader quietly, but the anger in man's voice made Darenal flinch as if he had shouted. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw several of the black Stormtroopers shift uneasily, the only expression of human emotion he had yet seen from them. Darenal's eyes returned to Akins and were glued there with skin-crawling horror. The man had fallen to his knees, desperately grasping at his throat. His eyes turning red as the capillaries began to burst around his pupils. Veins stood out like worms across his forehead, pushing outward as if trying to jump free as his face began turning blue. Darenal shivered, the hairs on his arms and neck standing bolt upright, as Akins began gurgling and twitching violently. For over a minute those wet, terrified gurgles were the only sound in the large room, apart from the hammering of Darenal's own heart, and the rhythmic, mechanical breathing of Darth Vader. By the time Akins slumped forward, dead, still twitching like an insect, Darenal's skin had become white and clammy. As the smell of Akins's voided bowels, his final act in life, began to drift up from his fresh corpse, Darenal realized his own uniform was soaked through with cold sweat. The room was silent, but for that slow click and hiss of the dark Lord's breaths.

"Captain Sef."

Darenal snapped to attention as Vader's deep voice crushed the silence underfoot.

"Yes, m'Lord?"

"You will assume the rank and responsibilities of Major Akins immediately." "Do not," he said, turning to fix his mask's emotionless regard upon Darenal, "follow in his footsteps." He finished, the edged warning in his voice unmistakable. For several heartbeats, they stood facing one another, and though he could not see them behind the mask, Darenal Sef could feel the towering man's eyes piercing through him. Without another word, Darth Vader turned to resume his examination of the city stretched out before him, and Darenal understood himself to be dismissed.

"I will not fail the Empire my Lord!" he said, and after a crisp salute, he turned and marched from the room.

Turning to glance behind him in the doorway, he saw two of the black Stormtroopers hauling Akins's body toward the disposal chute like a particularly fat and unpleasant smelling sack of garbage. I suppose that's exactly what they're doing. He thought in spite of himself, and suppressing a nervous grin, he continued down the hall, hearing the blast doors hiss shut behind him.


	3. Chapter 3

From where he slumped against the wall, Darenal watched with dazed awe the battle playing out before him. The Jedi danced, each thrust and slash of his lightsaber languid and smooth, the blue blade hissing through the air with a grace and precision that testified to his years of study and practice with the weapon.

Yet Vader toyed with him, his red blade thwarting each of the Jedi's attacks effortlessly.

At the sound of barked orders and armored boots, Darenal turned his head to see a squad of the black Stormtroopers standing ready in the doorway. One of them, having dragged the injured trooper into the opening, grabbed the unconscious man's remaining arm and hoisted him over his shoulders, disappearing down the hallway at a jog. The others stood motionless, like tensed hunting dogs, focused on the duel. Darenal could see the red and blue tints reflected across their helmets and armor as the lightsabers clashed with cracks and sputtering hisses.

The Jedi's attacks were furious now, desperation manifesting as increasing recklessness. No longer displaying his fluid grace, the Jedi swung his blade as if it were a metal pipe. Vader did not even take a step back, fending off this new primitive onslaught with the same deadly proficiency. The Jedi swung at the right side of Vader's head, then he twirled the blade over his head and brought it down to strike at Vader's left knee- only to be met by Vader's parries. Then the Jedi pivoted, twirling his blade at his side as he back stepped. The Jedi brought his blade forward as he turned the spin into a lunging thrust forward, straight for Vader's chest. At the moment the Jedi had committed all his momentum to the attack, Darth Vader finally moved.

Forward.

Knocking the thrust aside with his blade, Darth Vader advanced, thrusting out with an open palm as if to push his opponent's exposed chest.

To Darenal, it seemed as if the very air in the room rumbled, shook with power, as the Jedi was sent flying across the room to crash into the opposite wall, his blue blade disappearing with a hiss as it fell from his grip.

As the Jedi slid onto the floor, Vader began to walk forward, deactivating his weapon and replacing it on his belt. The Jedi immediately began climbing shakily to his feet coughing up bubbles of blood and saliva. Visibly bracing himself, the Jedi thrust out both his shaking arms and with an answering burst of power sent a small table flying toward his advancing foe.

In dazed wonder Darenal watched the table freeze in mid-air, not even halfway to its intended target. Just as Vader was only a few steps away from it, it exploded outward, pelting the Jedi with chunks and splinters of wood. As the Jedi covered his face with one arm, he threw his other out to his side, and with a glint of metal his lightsaber flew back into his grip and thrummed into life. The blue light of his blade now illuminated his face, blood streaming down his already bruising, broken features. His expression was twisted with agony, but the man stood his ground as Vader's shadow, cast by the light streaming in from the doorway, fell over him.

Vader stopped then, no more than five paces away from his enemy, as if considering something. The room was now silent but for the broken, rattling wheezes of the Jedi, and Darth Vader's steady, measured, mechanical breathing. Then, the moment ended. As Vader raised his hand, the Jedi lurched forward, trying to hold on to his weapon as it was pulled from his grip. With a soft hiss the blade vanished, and the blood stained handle spun end over end through the air to land in Vader's waiting hand. Beaten, weaponless, the Jedi's legs began to tremble, then wobble violently, and with a violent outburst of bloody coughing he fell to his knees. As the Black Stormtroopers rushed into the room, shackling the man and pulling him roughly to his feet, Darth Vader turned and walked to the door. He hadn't spoken a single word.


End file.
